Sonya Deville On Advice She’s Received From Vince McMahon On WWE Authority Role, Making Her In-Ring Return

In a recent interview on Out of Character with Ryan Satin, Sonya Deville discussed advice she’s received from Vince McMahon on her WWE authority role, making her in-ring return, and much more. You can read her comments below.

Sonya Deville on advice she’s received from Vince McMahon on her WWE authority role: “He reminds me to smile a lot, ironically. I think he loves the demeaning attitude of when someone from my role does something more passive-aggressively, then smiles. I think he thinks that’s so much more powerful than just “you’re not allowed in this match.’ That’s a piece of advice he gave me when I first started the role that I’ve taken throughout. It’s really helped. He kind of gave that to me.”

On patterning her role around Stephanie McMahon’s role as an authority figure: “I’ve gotten a lot of what I do from Stephanie. Looking back at the old Stephanie stuff, I think that is Vince’s kind of vision for me is a Stephanie-esque character. When I do get in the ring, it’s like, yeah I get in the ring but I get in the ring as an authority figure. I will use my power how I see fit and how I can to my advantage and I’ll enjoy doing it because that’s what Steph does and that’s how Vince did. I’ve taken a lot of notes from both of their past work for sure.”

On making her in-ring return: “About halfway through this role, I was going to Vince saying, ‘When am I getting back in the ring? When am I getting back in the ring?’ Kind of pestering him and he was like ‘just wait’ and then a couple weeks ago, he pulled me aside and was like ‘aren’t you glad you waited?’ So that was kind of my confirmation from him letting me know to look at how much equity and work we just put into this character and now she can go anywhere and do anything from this point on. So that was kind of cool because as a competitor and someone who constantly wants to be better like all of us, it’s hard to be in the moment and realize what you’re doing is being special and you always want more. That was kind of a cool moment where I was like, ‘Wait, he’s right, we just put a lot of work into this character.’ It was very consistent and long and you don’t get that very often here. Sometimes things are short-lived and a couple of week thing and it’s cool to be a part of something more longer and more permanent because then when you do something else and switch it up on the fans, they’re like whoa. It’s a drastic change and it will get that reaction. I’m excited to see how it all plays out but again, I’m in no rush to leave where I’m at right now.”

If using any of the above quotes, please credit Out of Character with Ryan Satin with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.